Cyclone Biparjoy: India, Pakistan evacuate more than 170,000 – BBC News

The long-lived cyclone, Biparjoy is expected to make landfall near the border of India and Pakistan (courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

Gale force winds and heavy rains are lashing coastal parts of north-west India and southern Pakistan as a powerful cyclone makes landfall.

Forecasters say it could be the area’s worst storm in 25 years and warned it threatens homes and crops in its path.

The cyclone is due to barrel through parts of India’s Gujarat state and Sindh province in Pakistan….

We can’t run away – Beneath the Sands ERC

Sand collecting in Mekong (by Yosomono CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

The rise in sand demand endangers the lives of children, laborers, journalists and environmental defenders.

Greed over grains of sand has a fatal human cost: As cities rise and countries urbanize, sand-related murders and other associated crimes have taken a toll on poverty-stricken communities.

In parts of the globe, where sand is extracted, criminal gangs and sand mafias control the multi-billion dollar trade, spawning violence in land-rich, developing nations. On their trail are hundreds of people — miners, journalists and environmental defenders — reported to have been killed, imprisoned or threatened…

Women against the grain – Beneath the Sands ERC

Women in a community meeting, Mumbai, India (by Simone D. McCourtie, World Bank Photo Collection CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

Women in Cambodia, India, Kenya and Indonesia share how they are on the frontlines in the resistance against powerful sand mining operations in their communities.

In a trade that is dominated and driven by men, women often bear the burden of the negative social and environmental impacts from sand mining activities across the world. This is evident in much of our reporting on the global industry. As is common with many environmental issues we face today, we feel that the disproportionate burden to women is a heavily underreported issue…

Beneath the Sands Series – the Environmental Reporting Collective

The dredger ship "Hansitha" on the Mundakkal coast near Kollam, India (by Arunvrparavur CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia).

The greed for grains of sand comes at an ecological disaster and fatal human cost; murders and other associated crimes which have taken a toll on poverty-stricken communities, particularly women.

The ERC investigation, Beneath the Sands, exposes how greed for grains of sand comes at a fatal human cost: As cities rise in number and countries urbanize rapidly, sand mining-related murders and other associated crimes have taken a toll on poverty-stricken communities…

Nowhere to fish, nowhere to farm – Beneath the Sands ERC

Collecting sand, Laos, 2018 (by Mary Newcombe CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr).

Across Asia and Africa, countries are dealing with massive sand mining that destroys fishing grounds, farmlands, and homes.

Beting Aceh, an island in Riau Province, Indonesia, has been Eryanto’s home for 40 years. The island is known for its white sandy beaches and clean ocean water; more than half its residents are fishers.

But the island has drastically changed over the past two years. The ocean water is getting murky, the beach is shrinking, and it has suffered from massive erosion, indicated by the uprooted trees strewn along the coast. Many villagers say the damage is linked to a sand mining operation happening between Beting Aceh and the neighboring Babi Island…

Coastal crisis: It’s a race against time, and tide, for those living in Odisha’s coastal villages; here’s why – Down To Earth

Gopalpur beach, Ganjam, Odisha (by Prabhu Prasanna Pradhan CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr).

Odisha is fast losing its shoreline to rising sea levels. Its adaptation plans must not only be immediate but also foolproof…

It is a race against time, and tide, for those living in Odisha’s coastal villages. Data with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai, shows that 74 villages in the state are severely affected by shoreline erosion—the highest in the country…

Why the Climate Fight Will Fail without India – Scientific American

Delhi Train Station (by Axel Drainville CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr).

India is in the midst of the biggest climate experiment the world has ever known.

It’s a test that aims to transform a nation marked by deep economic inequality and heavily polluting coal power to one where families drive electric scooters and cool their homes with the sun’s energy. And it could determine whether global temperatures exceed limits beyond which climate impacts become increasingly disastrous…

Why beach sand mining is so dangerous – Times of India

Coastal Sand Mining Awareness Campaign poster created by Awaaz Foundation and BNHS for the UN Convention on Biodiversity Conference in Hyderabad, India 2012 (uploaded by Sumaira Abdulali, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia)

Beach sand mining has been illegal since 1991 when the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules were first notified thirty years ago. Although illegal mining on beaches has continued nevertheless, the scale has been comparatively lesser than in rivers, where it has devasted entire swathes of land and water. Major Indian rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri face existential threat…